JAZZ apples, Raley’s and Tour de Fresh bring produce to school
Students at Sacramento’s New Joseph Bonneheim Elementary School enjoyed more fruits and vegetables as the school year wrapped up, thanks to a local retailer, a crunchy apple, and a lot of pedal power.
During the first week in June, Greg Corrigan, Raley’s senior director of produce and floral and Garland Perkins, business development representative for the Oppenheimer Group joined school officials and students to dedicate its new salad bar.
The salad bar was donated by Raley’s, using its own contributions plus funds raised by its shoppers during a JAZZ apple promotion last October. Perkins put the muscle behind the project by riding the 275 miles from Carmel to Anaheim, Calif. in the Tour de Fresh in JAZZ apple kit while the promotion was taking place.
“We thought it was a really fun way to create interest in JAZZ apples at Raley’s while earning a salad bar for a lot of great kids,” said Perkins. Raley’s and Oppy partnered in social media outreach throughout the tour, with Perkins reporting from the road with images and videos and talking up JAZZ apples at Raley’s.
The effort was celebrated with a lunch-hour salad bar dedication ceremony June 2, complete with presentations by students and even an original song about the fruits and vegetables in the salad bar led by one of the teachers.
“It was enormously gratifying to see the salad bar in place and the amazing response from the students and faculty,” Corrigan said. “The kids seemed sincerely excited and grateful. Hopefully our effort will help create healthy lifelong eating habits for these students and others who attend New Joseph Bonneheim in the future.”
This salad bar was one of 40 earned by riders in the Tour de Fresh last year. Fresh crop New Zealand JAZZ apples are available now from Oppy.
